Stable, four-legged sawhorse



Filed Jan. 8, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 14W [I 12455 Wzzw ' 3,064,755 STABLE, FOUR-LEGGED SAWHORSE Van I. Illes, Atascadero, Calif assignor of one-eighth to Ruth 0. Lippincott, Orinda, Calif., and one-eighth to John W. Ralls, Palo Aito, Calif.

Filed Jan. 8, 1960, Ser. No. 1,213 2 Claims. (Cl. 182155) This invention relates to four-legged sawhorses and the like, which stand firm on uneven ground.

A difiiculty with four-legged sawhorses in common use, is that they are unstable and tend to wobble when the ground or other surface on which they stand is uneven. The object of this invention is to provide fourlegged sawhorses which stand firm on uneven ground and are self-adjusting to conform to irregularities in the surface upon which they stand.

Briefly stated, four-legged sawhorses according to this invention have two pairs of legs, one pair at each end of the sawhorse. The two legs of each pair are held in fixed, coplanar relation to each other, and the two pairs of legs are joined together at their tops by means including a rotary joint having a horizontal axis of rotation, so that one pair of legs can rotate in a vertical plane relative to the other. Preferably, stop means are provided to limit the angle of this rotation to the range within which the sawhorse stands in stable equilibrium.

The invention may be better understood from the following detailed description of an illustrated embodiment and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a projection view of a sawhorse embodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of the same sawhorse taken along the plane 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary end view as seen from the right-hand end of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary end view as seen from the left-hand end of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a transverse section taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 2.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 1-5, illustrating a sawhorse. The body of the sawhorse is an elongated, wooden member, constructed in the illustrated embodiment by fastening a 1" x 6" board 26 to the top side of a 2" x 6" board 27. One end of the sawhorse body is supported by a pair of tubular metal legs 28, 29, and the other end of the sawhorse body is supported by another pair of tubular metal legs 30, 31. Legs 28, 29 are held in fixed, coplanar relation to each other by a bracket comprising a pair of parallel, metal plates 32, 33 held together by four rivets 34, 35, 36, and 37, or the like. The upper ends of legs 28 and 29 are pivotally mounted upon rivets 36 and 37 so that these two legs may be folded together for storage. In use, legs 28, 29 are spread apart into an inverted-V shape, and rest against rivets 34 and 35, which limit the angle between the two legs and hold the entire assembly in a stable, non-rotational relation when the sawhorse is in use.

The bracket 32, 33 is mounted on the underside of board 27, and is fastened thereto by means of a hinge 39 having its pin 40 extending transverse to the sawhorse body. This hinge-mounting permits the legs 28 and 29 to be retracted or folded back under the sawhorse body for storage and the like, as is indicated in 3,064,755 Patented Nov. 20, 1962 FIG. 2 by broken lines 28'. In use, the legs are ex-v tended to the full-line position, and the shaft 38 is held in a substantially horizontal position underneath the sawhorse body by a catch 41, as shown. Further, the plates 32, 33 comprised in the bracket at this end of the sawhorse are flat on top, as is best shown in FIG. 4, whereby, in the extended position of legs 28 and 29 during use of the sawhorse, the flat, upper edges of plates 32, 33 rest upon the flat bottom of the sawhorse body and hold the sawhorse body in non-rotational relation to the legs 28, 29.

The second pair of legs 30, 31 is mounted in a similar manner at the other endof the sawhorse body, except that their bracket plates are slightly modified to permit limited rotation of the sawhorse body relative to the legs 30, 31. This is best shown in FIG. 3. The bracket that holds the two legs 30, 31 in fixed, coplanar relation to each other comprises two parallel plates 42 and 43. These plates are mounted upon the shaft 44, which is fastened to the underside of the sawhorse body by means of the hinge 45. The difference in construction between the two pairs of legs is that the plates 42 and 43 are not flat on top like the plates 32, 33, but instead have top edges that slope downward somewhat to each side, as is best seen in FIG. 3. Hence, the plates 42 and 43 can rotate through a limited angle about shaft 44, until the sloping top edges of plates 42 and 43 come in contact with the bottom of the sawhorse body. For example, plates 42 and 43 can rotate to the position shown by broken lines 42 in FIG. 8, which in turn rotates the legs 30, 31 to the position 30', 31.

The sawhorse illustrated in FIG. 1-5 is self-adjusting to stand firmly on uneven ground. On perfectly level, even ground, the legs 30 and 31 are in angular alinement with the legs 28 and 29, so that the bottoms of all four legs lie in the same, flat plane. On uneven ground, the second pair of legs 30, 31 can rotate some what relative to the first pair of legs 28, 29, and hence the bottom ends of the legs of one pair can rest upon a plane which is not level with the bottom ends of the legs of the other pair. On uneven ground the legs automatically adjust themselves so that all four legs stand firmly on the ground. The body 26, 27 of the sawhorse is non-rotational relative to legs 28, 29 (when the legs are extended for use) and thereby the body of the sawhorse is held securely in fixed position.

What is claimed is:

1. A four-legged, folding sawhorse, which stands fir-m on uneven ground, comprising a horizontal body, first and second hinges mounted on the underside of said body at opposite ends thereof, each of said hinge having a hinge pin extending transverse to said body, first and second shafts attached to said first and second hinges, respectively, each shaft extending perpendicular to the pin of the hinge and being mounted in longitudinally swinging relation to said body, first and second brackets rotatively mounted upon said first and second shafts, respectively, a first pair of legs attached to said first bracket in folding selectively retractable and extendable relation to said body, a second pair of legs attached to said second bracket in folding, selectively retractable and extendable relation to said body, said first bracket having a flat upper edge arranged to engage the underside of said body and holed said first pair of legs in non-rotational relation to said body, said second bracket having an upper edge, sloping downward to each side, arranged to engage the underside of the sawhorse and permit rotation of the second pair of legs through a limited angle relative to said body.

2. A folding sawhorse leg assembly adapted for mounting on the underside of a sawhorse body, comprising a hinge having a transverse pin, a longitudinally swinging shaft attached to said hinge, said shaft extending perpendicular to said pin, a bracket rotatively mounted upon said shaft, said bracket having an upper edge, sloping downward to each side, arranged to engage the underside of the sawhorse .body upon rotation of said bracket References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 522,444 Wright July 3, 1894 1,842,012 Cline Ian. 19, 1932 1,866,974 Hohing et a1. July 12, 1932 2,500,333 Young Mar. 14, 1950 2,594,464 Loucks Apr. 29, 1952 2,828,165 Harter Mar. 25, 1958 2,868,426 Groves Jan. 13, 1959 

